As Michael Clarke learnt, it is easier to lead a side if you have not been
involved in the politics of picking it

It was easily missed amidst the shemozzle that accompanied the early part of Australia’s summer tour, what with the coach being sacked and a star batsman thumping a member of the opposition in a Birmingham bar.

But during that madness captain Michael Clarke stood down as a selector.

It had been coming. It had never been the Australian way for the captain to be a selector.

But it was a recommendation of the Argus Review after the Ashes hammering handed out Down Under in 2010-11, and it had not being going well, reaching its nadir when four players were suspended during the infamous ‘homeworkgate’ in India.

It was then that former opener Justin Langer spoke out. “I don’t think that the captain should be a selector,” he said.

“I look back on Steve Waugh, Ricky Ponting and Allan Border and some great leaders, and they weren’t selectors.”

Speaking last week Clarke outlined his relief that he had finally stood down.

“I think standing down as a selector has been one of the best things I’ve done since taking over the captaincy,’’ he said.

And it is undoubtedly right that an international captain should not be an official selector.

That has been the case with England since Nasser Hussain resigned from the role in 2003, mainly because the split captaincy with Michael Vaughan had begun.

But it was also because, as Hussain said at the time: “The fact is that for some time now, [coach] Duncan Fletcher and I have grown increasingly worried about how little county cricket and how few young cricketers we are able to watch because of the hectic international schedule.”

Hussain was talking about new players, and it is a valid point.

But that is not to say that the captain should not have a say about players already known.

He should have a huge say. He should almost always take the field with the side he wants.

There should not arise the sort of situation famously encountered by AC MacLaren, who, when seeing the names of the England side to face Australia in the fourth Test at Old Trafford in 1902, exclaimed: “My God, look what they’ve sent me!”

And in fairness the captain was fully justified in expressing shock at the omission of such players as CB Fry, Gilbert Jessop and SF Barnes.

But the idea that he had no input into the selection is quite shocking.

Richie Benaud was still suffering something similar in 1961 when, as captain of Australia, he received a message from the selectors saying: “We think you’ll like the side, Richie.”

Recently when England’s squad for the forthcoming Ashes was announced, there was some disquiet about it being announced by national selector, Geoff Miller, and managing director, Hugh Morris.

Where was captain Alastair Cook?

Well, Cook had not officially picked the squad.

Yes, he had offered his input, but it was not up to him to answer questions about, for example, the omission of Graham Onions.

The Durham fast bowler could yet play a part in the series in Australia, and if he does, Cook might want it to appear that the original selection had not been his.

That might seem an evasive manner in which to deal with matters, but cricket dressing rooms can be tricky places to inhabit for a man making serious decisions about those around him.

It is why I found captaining a county cricket side (where selection is usually your responsibility) so unbearable; mates one minute, enemies the next, all because of a purely cricketing decision.

I soon discovered that you can never really be one of the lads when captain.

It is about “half-hearing conversations which you’d rather not hear at all,” as the late Peter Roebuck once said.

Or, when a burly fast bowler once declined to travel with me, not hearing them at all.

Last week Clarke was in part responding to questions raised in Mike Hussey’s new book, Underneath The Southern Cross, in which Hussey mentioned that players were prone to “keep their heads down’’ whenever Clarke was nearby, just because he was a selector.

Or was it? Clarke’s reputation as a man manager is hardly high. He has fallen out with many team-mates; Shane Watson, Simon Katich, Andrew Symonds to name three.

Not being a selector will help, but will it make Clarke a better captain?